D&D 5E DM gave me a helm of teleportation, am I a jerk for using it?

[ECMO3]

So I am playing in a game and picked up a helm of teleportation as loot. The DM wrote the adventure, so it is not like some other author put it there.

I have used it to bypass a lot of parts. For example we were standing on top of a besieged tower and looking at the commander from the other Army about a mile away on the hill near his command tent and our General wanted to send a strike team to take out the commander. And he was showing us this from the top of the wall - "sneak over into their camp and take out that General" ...."that General right there?" .... "yeah that one" .... so I teleport the party right then and there from the wall to the command tent (which I can see), dispatch the General and teleport us all back to the wall.

Right now we are plodding through a dungeon (lair for an Army of Orcs led by a shadow dragon) and we are running low on spells. A few of us have commented that we might need a long rest as we know we have a fight with a Shadow Dragon coming up at some point. It is clear the dungeon is not designed to allow for a long rest. Would it be wrong of me to teleport us to the keep (hundreds of miles away but I have an item from there so I can do it without error), grab a long rest and then teleport us back?

 

[Tutara]

No. It's fine, unless there's something else you've not mentioned that would make it a jerk move. The fact you're asking suggests you might be worried about it - maybe speak to your DM (tm) and check this isn't going to mess with something. If it is, perhaps ask them why they gave you the item in the first place. Politely, of course.

 

[Oofta]

If they put it there, they expect you to use it. If I were DMing I'd probably be mean and say that a location you see from a distance would only be "casually seen" and you'd have a less than a 50% chance to get there successfully. Or there'd be a spell cast to stop it when it mattered such as Forbiddance.

If it's making the game not fun, discuss it with your DM.

 

[Lanefan]

So I am playing in a game and picked up a helm of teleportation as loot. The DM wrote the adventure, so it is not like some other author put it there.

I have used it to bypass a lot of parts. For example we were standing on top of a besieged tower and looking at the commander from the other Army about a mile away on the hill near his command tent and our General wanted to send a strike team to take out the commander. And he was showing us this from the top of the wall - "sneak over into their camp and take out that General" ...."that General right there?" .... "yeah that one" .... so I teleport the party right then and there from the wall to the command tent (which I can see), dispatch the General and teleport us all back to the wall.

Right now we are plodding through a dungeon (lair for an Army of Orcs led by a shadow dragon) and we are running low on spells. A few of us have commented that we might need a long rest as we know we have a fight with a Shadow Dragon coming up at some point. It is clear the dungeon is not designed to allow for a long rest. Would it be wrong of me to teleport us to the keep (hundreds of miles away but I have an item from there so I can do it without error), grab a long rest and then teleport us back?

My first immediate thought on reading this is that something - either the RAW or the DM - is being very generous by allowing you to take the whole party with you when you teleport. That's the broken element here IMO.

But other than that, if you got it, use it!

 

[MarkB]

My first immediate thought on reading this is that something - either the RAW or the DM - is being very generous by allowing you to take the whole party with you when you teleport. That's the broken element here IMO.

But other than that, if you got it, use it!

RAW. It allows you to cast the teleport spell, which allows up to eight willing creatures to accompany you.

 

[Charlaquin]

My first immediate thought on reading this is that something - either the RAW or the DM - is being very generous by allowing you to take the whole party with you when you teleport. That's the broken element here IMO.

But other than that, if you got it, use it!

That’s just how the spell works. To quote, “This spell instantly transports you and up to eight willing creatures of your choice that you can see within range, or a single object that you can see within range, to a destination you select” (more details follow but aren’t relevant to this specific point).

 

[Seramus]

Find an Amulet of the Planes and declare yourself Taximan.

 

[bloodtide]

No. Your using the item as set by the rules.

 

[ECMO3]

My first immediate thought on reading this is that something - either the RAW or the DM - is being very generous by allowing you to take the whole party with you when you teleport. That's the broken element here IMO.

But other than that, if you got it, use it!

It is RAW. At one point he did make a DM ruling that an unconcious creature was "willing", which I guess is would be a gray area.

I think RAI the chance of failure was supposed to be the thing to make characters reluctant to do it, however the associated object rule rule counters that pretty effectively - If we want to leave the current dungeon for example, all I need to do is pick up a hammer from the forge room we are currently in, then teleport to the keep using the fork I took from the Keep's kitchen as an associated object and come back tomorrow using the hammer from the forge as an associated object to get us back into the dungeon.

 

[billd91]

Certainly, using the helm of teleportation in this manner is pretty much exactly what it’s useful for. That said, make sure you collect significant items from the locations you want to teleport to, and not just picking a pebble up off the floor. Pebbles on the floor may have been tracked there from orcish boots. Break off a fresh chunk of something, then its link is unambiguous.